Learning to resist

GAYLORD - Gaylord students in the third, sixth and eighth grades are learning how to resist peer pressure on the subject of drugs through a prevention program offered in the schools.

Linda Slivinski, 22, prevention specialist for Catholic Human Services, has been presenting prevention programs to students in Otsego County since the beginning of the school year. She is currently winding up a four-week drug-prevention class with sixth-grade students at the Gaylord Intermediate School (GIS).

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"The number one reason kids get involved with drugs is peer pressure," said Slivinski, a graduate of Michigan State University's family and community services program. "We give them the tools to deal with negative peer pressure."

The program, Otsego Prevention Education Network (OPEN), offers a number of prevention topics. "We deal with prevention of all kinds. I recently did an eight-week class for Johannesburg students on conflict management," said Slivinski.

"I also worked with a group of third-grade students at St. Mary on social skills."

As a part of the first class session with GIS students, Slivinski administered a pre-test to assess their knowledge of drugs. "At the last class session I give them the same test to see if there is improvement in their understanding of drug use. Almost all of the students demonstrate a far greater knowledge of drugs after the four class sessions."

Classes for the sixth-graders center around providing information on alcohol, smoking, smokeless tobacco and peer pressure.

"I can have some pretty frank and open discussions with the students. They aren't shy about discussing drug use and ask a lot of questions," noted Slivinski.

Slivinski said the programs are popular in the schools and teachers of students who have taken the classes say they feel they serve a valuable need, providing information on drugs and dealing with peer pressure. "When I'm in a school building I have teachers coming up to me asking when I'll be back to do another program."

Slivinski is starting a drug- prevention program this week with eighth-grade classes at the Gaylord Middle School. "We don't preach to them. I provide the information to help them make the right choices. A lot of the information they have on drugs is incorrect; what we give them heightens their knowledge and awareness."